


Hit me with your best shot

by MsPeppernose



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Kissing, Laser Tag, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 09:53:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7840192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsPeppernose/pseuds/MsPeppernose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt; <i>take me laser tagging and then push me into a corner and kiss me. then shoot me and walk away</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Hit me with your best shot

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Hit me with your best shot / Pat Benetar.
> 
> Thank you to TearCatcher for beta.

It’s a team building exercise that Bucky thinks is pretty pointless. Thought up by Steve, it’s supposed to be an afternoon of light-hearted, non-violent fun that might bring them together while using their already-honed warzone skills without any actual bloodshed. So far, no one is buying it.

“Laser tag?” Bucky asks, skeptically. “You know, I thought you’ve been in real war zones? Ones that involve actual weapons?”

“I’m with the One Armed Bandit," Tony says, tapping away absently on the tablet on his lap. His fingers move at a mile a minute and it boggles Bucky’s mind a little. “I have lasers on my suit. Can I wear my suit for this? Pretty sure I’ll win then?”

Steve doesn’t miss a beat. “It’s just for fun. Two teams. Winner is the team with the most points at the end. And no real lasers, Tony.”

Tony makes a face but looks as though he might be conceding. 

Natasha looks sceptical too. It’s not that she’s against fun and games, but Bucky is sure her reservations are because she can probably hands down win a game that relies on stealth and skills like hers.

“Not to gang up against you, Steve, but I’m not sure playing war games will do us any good when we’ve been doing it for real for so long,” she says.

“Like I said, team building.” Steve says. He sighs. “If was just an idea. If you guys don’t want to-”

“No, we can do it,” Bucky interrupts, because Steve looks disappointed and it hurts Bucky’s insides to see it. He never likes saying no to Steve. “Might be fun?” 

Once Bucky’s on board, Sam follows suit and soon they’re all in. Maybe it will be fun.

The teams are decided on coin flips so it’s random, and Bucky’s on a team with Nat , Clint, and Thor. The other team is Steve, Sam, Tony and Scott, and while Bucky’s a little heartbroken not to be on the same side as Steve, his team is pretty damn good.

Tony’s not allowed to wear his suit, so no one else is allowed to wear theirs, either. This really doesn’t make all that much difference, because they all have skills beyond the costumes and toys they have on the battlefield. 

(Even Thor - and although he grumbles about not being allowed to bring Mjolnir into the laser tag course, a magic hammer is not going to do him much good today.) 

The good thing about this rule, is that even though Steve’s not wearing his super-tight Captain America suit, he looks _really_ good. He’s in slim fitting combat pants, and a long sleeved tee that makes his arms and chest and shoulders look amazing. Bucky’s gaze lingers, like it always does, like he knows it shouldn't.

They suit up together - a heavy plastic vest over their civies. It acts like a target, with a body shot counting towards the overall score of the opposing team, and a shot to the red target over the heart counting as a kill.

The idea is to rack up as many points as possible, while also aiming to kill your enemy.

Steve catches Bucky gently by the elbow as they ready themselves to enter the course. “Thanks,” he says, his voice full of sincerity. 

“For what?”

“For agreeing to this,” Steve says, gesturing to the room, the laser tag course. “I know it’s lame, but I thought it would be good if we could all hang out without the pressure of training or exercise drills.”

“It’s not lame-”

“It is a little,” Steve says, and he gives Bucky a smile - one that he seems to reserve only for Bucky. It;s a smile that heats Bucky up from the inside, fills his chest with butterflies, and he can’t help but smile back. He feels more shy than he ought to for something so simple.

“It’s nothing,” Bucky shrugs. “It’ll probably be fun anyway.” He punches Steve playfully on the shoulder. “I’ll try not to kill you,” he says with a grin.

Steve laughs. “You won’t have to try, Buck. You won’t get the chance to kill me.”

Bucky scoffs, but keeps his tone light. “Eh, hello! Winter Soldier right here! I got mad skills!

Steve laughs heartily again. “We’ll see.”

 

The course is a series of rooms and tunnels, with different spaces containing things to hide under or behind, and hurdles to climb over. There’s a completely pitch black room, a UV lit room and a smoke filled, strobe lit room that Bucky thinks belongs in a nightclub more than a war-game. 

The weaponry is minimal; just a handgun each - plastic but heavy. The idea is obviously that it looks and feels like a real gun, but it doesn’t to anyone who uses weaponry on the regular.

Overall it’s pretty inventive though, and the general mood of the changes from _Why are we doing this?_ , to _This could be fun._

Bucky should feel confident; he’s good with a gun, is more than familiar with sneaking around in dark places, and he can hold his own. But then these are actual Avengers he’s going up against, so, yeah, maybe not so confident.

He tries to stick to their tactical plan, and it’s almost laughable that they actually _have_ a tactical plan for laser tag.

Bucky, Nat, Clint and Thor have a quick team meeting, and their plan is to use Thor as a diversion, while Clint and Nat try to take down the other team. Thor is by far the least stealthy of the four of them; he’s built for power and strength, but he’s quick on his feet and if he can keep some of the other guys busy then Clint and Nat can swoop in and Bucky’s plan is to do a little of everything - he’s very good at going unnoticed, but then he’s also sure he can make his presence known if it will help his superspy team mates get the drop on his opponents.

The game starts off slow. They all run off in different directions, but keeping their plan in mind.

Bucky darts down a slim hallway, heading right to the end before ducking into one of the little dark rooms. There’s enough light to see where he’s going, see who might be entering the room, just just about.

The first person that Bucky encounters is Scott. Bucky likes Scott; he’s funny, a good guy, a valuable member of the Avengers, but his abilities rely heavily on his AntMan suit. So while Scott’s running around trying to get his bearings, Bucky gets three direct hits to his back. (And it’s not cowardly to shoot someone in the back if it’s laser tag!)

There’s a few more run-ins; one between Bucky and Tony, where Bucky’s pleased as punch to get a hit in, another when Bucky overhears Natasha shoot Sam, another where Clint gets shot by Tony before getting several of his own hits in in retaliation.

Bucky’s relatively unscathed - just a couple of shots from Sam and one from Tony - but regardless, he’s having fun running around and letting off a little steam.

Bucky ducks into an alcove, back to the wall, craning his neck around the corner. It’s a sweet little hideout spot with just a narrow corridor behind him to worry about.

He’s keeping watch of the open space in front of him - the coast is clear and he’ll hear anyone coming at him from that direction.

With a moment to catch his breath, his mind drifts to Steve, as it often does. Bucky wishes that he and Steve were on the same team, because they should always be on the same team. And it’s silly because this is just a game and nothing more, but he feels a pang of jealousy over Sam getting to hang out with Steve. Maybe next time he can rig the selection process so that he and Steve can be teammates. 

Not that being on the same team with Steve would make much of a difference, but Bucky can imagine having little _tete a tete’s_ over mission briefings and tactics, plans to beat their opponents. Maybe they’d have little team jokes that he and Steve could share, maybe they could hide out in a corner, not unlike this one, together - just the two of them. Maybe they’d have to crawl into one of those little hide-out tunnels together, huddled close and pressed up against each other. He knows he’s letting his imagination run away with itself, but he doesn’t care. 

He’s completely distracted by his own imagination, so much so that his guard is down and he doesn’t hear who’s sneaking up behind him. He feels what he assumes is the laser tag gun pressing against the base of his spine. It makes him jump, and a stupid little squeak escapes his lips.

“I should shoot you, Buck,” a familiar voice whispers.

Bucky closes his eyes, relieved it’s Steve, even if Steve’s his opponent today.

“Would you do that to me?” he smiles.

“I might. I thought you of all people would be better at watching your back,” Steve says, his voice low and rough. Bucky can feel how close they are even though they’re not touching. The spot where Steve’s gun is poking into Bucky’s back drags over to his hip where Steve pinches him playfully, and when Bucky turns around he realises Steve’s gun isn’t even raised; it was his finger all along.

“So why did you drop your guard, Bucky? Seriously, anybody could have gotten the drop on you.”

“It’s just a game, though,” Bucky says weakly, obviously not about to admit that he was fucking _daydreaming_ about stealthy cuddling with Steve.

“Do you really think that Romonov or Stark are playing this like a game, Bucky?”

“Well, no. But--”

There’s a sound behind them, and considering there’s no way to tell who it is or which team they’re playing for, the safest option is for them both to hide. 

They run down the tunnel the around into a wide hallway and take the last left turn off it. It’s a little room with three corridors off it, and there’s a stack of large wooden crates in the corner - perfect for hiding behind. 

It’s a small space, so there isn’t much of a choice but to stand close to Steve. Bucky watches Steve’s chest heaving, rising and falling as he tries to catch his breath. Bucky’s out of breath too, but that’s the least of his worries right now, what with Steve so close and, _god_ it’s getting very warm in here.

“Any idea who that was?” Bucky asks.

“Nope, but I guess it doesn’t matter.”

“Should we hide out in here for a while?” Bucky says, trying to keep the hopeful glee from his voice that for some reason they’ll have to stay here forever.

“And let the guys all take each other out?”

Bucky laughs, but tries to stay as quiet as possible so it come out a little breathy. He catches Steve looking down his body, down between them to where Bucky’s chest feels tight and hot. “I think Natasha can take them all out by herself to be perfectly honest!” he says.

“You really think Nat can win this for you?” Steve says, his voice a rough whisper, his lips close to Bucky’s ear.

“I have confidence in her,” Bucky says.

“Me too, but I dunno if she can go up against Tony-”

“Tony doesn’t have his suit.”

“That’s true,” Steve says. “Speaking of Tony, he’ll never forgive me if he finds out I’m consorting with the enemy.”

“Consorting,” Bucky repeats, distracted by the fact that Steve is mere inches from him, close enough that he can feel Steve’s breath on his cheek, can see a bead of sweat on his temple.

“Isn’t that what we’re doing? 

Bucky feels hot all over again. He knows that his heartrate has sped up and with Steve’s supersoldier abilities he’s probably picked up on it. “I guess,” Bucky says.

Steve leans in against the wall with his hand right up by Bucky’s head. Essentially Bucky’s trapped, not that he’s complaining; he and Steve are hiding out, just like he wanted. 

“So, why didn’t you shoot me, Buck?” Steve asks, his eyes shining in the faint light.

“Can’t shoot you,” Bucky says, “You’re my oldest friend.” And it’s true.

Steve smirks, but it’s a kind hearted smirk. “It’s just a game, though. Said so yourself.”

“Whatever, Captain Serious -” Steve grins widely at that -”Why would you even want me to?”

Steve’s eyes turn dark. “Never said I wanted you to. I’m just curious why such a master assassin wouldn’t want to take a shot. You could have shot me right in the heart. I wouldn’t have fought back.” His words are slow and his voice is thick like honey, and he never takes his eyes off Bucky’s. There’s an undertone that Bucky wants to read into, knows it would be foolish too. And yet, Steve is so close and his body language is saying all the right things.

Steve stares at Bucky in the halflight. He’s _very_ close to Bucky, far closer than is actually necessary, and Bucky’s still not complaining.

Somewhere in the distance, they hear some sort of little scuffle, and then Tony swearing, “Son of a bitch.” 

They both laugh, though Bucky’s is a mixture of genuine amusement and awkward shyness as he watches Steve’s mouth curve into a gorgeous smile, watches Steve’s chest shake when he laughs.

The laugh tapers off to goofy smiles all round, but the smile gets wiped right off Bucky’s face when Steve’s eyes twinkle dangerously. Without warning, Steve’s then leaning in closer and closer until Bucky’s brain shuts down entirely because Steve’s lips touch his in a kiss that feels like a dream.

It’s a scorching kiss for one so slow - they’re barely moving, but it’s the intent behind it that take Bucky’s breath away.

Steve’s hand remains on the wall, and the other goes to Bucky’s hip, so Bucky is well and truely pinned in place and it makes it that much better.

Steve’s mouth is like all the good things that Bucky can remember from before the war - sweet iced tea on a hot day, the warm, comforting smell of clean linens, the satisfying crunch of autumn leaves under his feet in October. It’s so much more than that though, something he can’t put into words. He’s wanted this for as long as he can remember - which differs from day to day, but still.

Bucky opens his mouth under Steve’s, and the touch of Steve’s tongue against his makes him jump a little. Steve’s mouth curves into a smile, but he keeps on kissing Bucky, and Bucky keeps on kissing back like his life depends on it.

Bucky pulls back a fraction to breathe, but his nose is still touching Steve’s, they’re still sharing space.

“Been wanting to do that for a while,” Steve says as he pulls back an inch. Bucky feels the brush of Steve’s lips again his again so he steals another kiss, quick and hot and gorgeous. 

“Why now?” Bucky asks.

It’s Steve’s turn to look shy this time. He looks away, a tiny frown on his face, but when he turns back to face Bucky, it’s nothing but open honesty. “Got tired of waiting.”

“Glad you did it.” And Bucky is, because he doesn’t know if he would ever of built up the courage to start this himself.

“Yeah?”

“Mmm hmm,” Bucky murmurs. 

There’s a long moment of heavy silence between the, electricity passing between their bodies, pheromones being swapped. There’s a noise from somewhere off in another room, a scuffle, and some exchanged insults perhaps, and then footsteps getting closer. 

Bucky knows their moment is over, for now at least.

“I’m sorry,” Steve says quietly.

Bucky’s brain is still disengaged, so it takes him a minute. “Hmm? For what?” Because this is nothing that Steve should ever feel sorry. This moment of bravery from Steve has given Bucky everything he’s been thinking about for as long as he can remember, even past the blur of wiped memories and stolen headspace.

“For this,” Steve says, quieter still, his mouth still close to Bucky’s. 

There’s the familiar electronic _beep_ and _zap_ of the laser tag rifle, and Bucky feels the vibrations of his vest run through his chest.

Bucky looks at Steve feeling a little stricken. Steve quirks an eyebrow and shrugs with a smirk that twists Bucky’s insides in the best way. “Have to make it look believable. Can’t have my team thinking that their leader is conspiring with the enemy.”

Before Bucky can voice his protest or even try to shoot Steve in retaliation, Steve presses another kiss to Bucky’s mouth, hot and urgent. 

“I’ll make it up to you,” Steve promises. And then with a brief squeeze of Bucky’s ass, he’s gone, running down the tunnel.

It’s just in time, because a second later Natasha appears.

She takes one look at Bucky against the wall, and she must misread the flush in his cheeks as adrenaline rather than excitement. “He got you, huh?” she says.

“Oh, he got me.”

And as Bucky grabs his laser tag rifle off the floor and follows Natasha into the darkness he smiles to himself. Steve got him good.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Tumblr as @thislossofsleep:)


End file.
